Though summer’s just begun, it’s not too soon to start planning an autumn getaway — especially when the promise of your favorite chefs is right before you. For the eighth year in a row, the most-famed names in the culinary world are set to come together for a weekend-long celebration of all things food and drink at the Food Network & Cooking Channel New York City Wine & Food Festival. This year more than 500 chefs will be in attendance at nearly 100 events, kicking off in Manhattan on Thursday, October 15.

From the now-infamous battle of beef at the annual Burger Bash presented by Pat LaFrieda Meats and hosted by Rachael Ray to Giada De Laurentiis’ Italian Feast, presented by Ronzoni, and Geoffrey Zakarian’s Saturday morning brunch, you’re invited to join these chefs and others for walk-around tastings, intimate seated dinners, late-night bashes and wake-up-worthy brunches alike.

If the name Meatopia isn’t clear enough, its subtitle, The Carnivore’s Ball, definitely explains what the festival, hosted by Michael Symon, is about. Ten years in, it’s still bringing the meat lovers in full force. This year Meatopia partnered with the New York City Wine & Food Festival. Michael, Josh Ozersky, the event’s founder, and Lee Brian Schrager (pictured above) introduced the event. “When Josh started this 10 years ago I thought it was brilliant,” says Michael, a self-professed meat lover. The festival began simply to bring together meat-devoted chefs to cook their best dishes. With this new partnership, explains Michael, “not only is it a wonderful gathering of chefs … but the money goes to a great cause to boot,” calling it “the perfect event.”

The first thing festivalgoers saw upon entering the tents was (vegetarians need not read further) an entire steer roasting over coals, which definitely brought out the carnality in the crowds atop Pier 92 as the sun set on a chilly Sunday afternoon in New York City. Chefs from as far as London were on hand to put their best meaty dishes on display. And the food offerings weren’t just limited to the four-legged variety like pork, beef and lamb, as birds of a feather such as chicken, duck and quail were also included.

In the city that never sleeps, tacos make the ultimate late-night snack. They’re small, quick to eat and packed with flavor. So it’s only fitting that this year’s annual Tacos & Tequila party turned into a late-night fiesta. From 10pm until 1am, taco enthusiasts united and wandered the rooftop of Pier 92 with a margarita in one hand and a taco in the other. Bobby Flay returned as host of the popular Food Network City Wine & Food Festival event and was just as excited as his guests about the delicious fare created by his “brothers and sisters” in white chef jackets.

From Cuban-inspired meatballs to IPA-braised pork belly, the New York City Wine & Food Festival’s fifth annual Stacked event featured some serious gourmet fare served between two pieces of bread. During this walk-around lunchtime soiree, guests sipped on moonshine-spiked cocktails while contemplating their most-recent bite and strategizing which dish to try next. And while some of the lines were long, taste testers didn’t seem to mind. Participating in the competition were more than a dozen of today’s top chefs who take the concept of a sandwich very seriously. Restaurant: Impossible’sRobert Irvine was both the host of the tasting as well as a contender in the sandwich showdown.

Brunch, that between-breakfast-and-lunch mealtime, is the perfect opportunity to enjoy both sweet and savory dishes, sometimes all in one dish. And when it comes to the perfect accompanying drink, Bloody Marys are a popular choice. At this Saturday’s Chopped Best Bloody Mary Brunch at the New York City Wine and Food Festival, the judges from Chopped gathered to taste offerings from 12 finalists in Absolut’s nationwide search for the best Bloody Mary. Also on hand were former competitors from the show, who presented food pairings that ran the gamut from tried-and-true brunch classics to fusion dishes.

The award of the day, chosen by the Chopped judges, went to David Wakefield of TenOak in Texas.

Autumn may bring with it an excuse to indulge in pumpkin spice and the opportunity to dig into the occasional Halloween candy bowl, but in New York City specifically, fall means it’s time for one of the culinary industry’s most-anticipated events: the annual New York City Wine & Food Festival. 2014 marks the seventh year of the annual festival, and when it kicks off tomorrow night, your favorite Food Network stars, plus culinary and beverage experts and fans from across the country, will take over the Big Apple for four days of celebrations of all things food and drink.

FN Dish will be at the festival all weekend long with Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, Alex Guarnaschelli, Sunny Anderson, Robert Irvine, Michael Symon, Geoffrey Zakarian and more famous faces as they host elegant dinners, walk-around tastings and late-night bashes alike. If you can’t make it to the festival this year, stay tuned to FN Dish for our editors’ insider coverage of the events, or search the hashtag #NYCWFF on Twitter.

Just in time for Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday, Food Network Star winner Damaris Phillips, a lifelong southerner with a knack for baking and the host of Southern at Heart, is demystifying biscuit making so that you can skip the store-bought tubes of dough and make your own buttery beauties at home. This Kentucky native is known for enjoying her biscuits with gravy for breakfast, and just last month she took the stage with fellow Food Network Star alum Justin Warner at the New York City Wine & Food Festival to fuse her classic recipe with another morning favorite: bagels and lox. She walked fans through the step-by-step of creating this hybrid breakfast while chatting about basic biscuit-and-gravy how-tos, like simple tricks for cutting biscuits and the importance of cooking the flour in the gravy roux. Read on below to get Damaris’ top-six tips, then try her recipe for Sweet Potato Biscuits with Peppered Pork Loin, Apple Mustard Butter and Salad.

1. Don’t worry if you don’t have a fancy biscuit cutter at home; a round glass will do the trick.

2. There are two kinds of biscuits: flaky and cakey. Damaris prefers the cakey variety, as they’re better suited for sopping up gravy, so consider this if you plan on serving your biscuits with gravy as well.

3. When making the roux for the gravy — the mixture of fat (here, butter) and flour — it’s important to let the flour cook for a bit so it loses its raw flavor. The more you cook it, the darker the roux will be.

1. He doesn’t believe in kid-friendly recipes. “What do your kids like to eat? That’s a good kid-friendly recipe,” he says. Even better: Ask them to help in the kitchen. “Get them involved with whatever you cook. Let them feel something!” It’ll turn picky eaters into enthusiastic ones, Guy says.

2. He’d take a wok over the grill any day. “The wok is one of my favorite things to work with when I’m camping,” he says. “Outdoor cooking is not just about hot dogs and hamburgers. There are so many styles of food you can make.”

Given the chilly weather, shorter days and darker nights, comfort food season is at the top of everyone’s mind lately, and while many look to mac ‘n’ cheese or casseroles for hearty satisfaction, most forget that risotto is every bit as rich and decadent as those classic picks. This creamy, cheesy, Italian rice-based dish has been given a bad rap — some claim it’s too tedious to prepare at home — but Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian is on a mission to dispel that culinary rumor once and for all.

Catching up with fans at the 2013 New York City Wine & Food Festival last month, Geoffrey assuaged fears of cooking risotto from scratch — something he’s deemed “the final frontier” — explaining, “It’s nothing more than rice …. It’s not that much work …. It’s just a technique.” He broke down that technique during his live culinary demonstration preparing a mushroom-lobster risotto, and he noted that the payoff promises versatile recipes and can-do results. Read on below to hear from Geoffrey and learn his top tips for mastering risotto at home.

10. If you’re new to cooking risotto, stick with a basic recipe featuring chicken stock, cheese and olive oil.

9. Opt for a pan that offers enough surface area to cook the rice. Whether you use a large skillet or deep pot, just be sure there’s ample space for the rice to meet the heat.